REACH 2025 (March 13-14)

[Silentreader]

(I've lived with a constant headache since 2018, and the severity varies from one day to the next and throughout the day sometimes.)

Mennonet does that to a guy.

Especially Politics

[JohnH]

I am also looking forward to REACH 2025.

I'll be spending some time at Booth #19 Heralds of Hope.
Any interest in a "mennonet" small group dinner Thursday?
PM me if interested, or come by #19 at 630 pm Thursday.

All for Jesus.

Assuming my headache is not severe by then, I'm in.
(I've lived with a constant headache since 2018, and the severity varies from one day to the next and throughout the day sometimes.)

Have you been able to see a doctor, neurologist etc about this???

[Ernie]

I am also looking forward to REACH 2025.

I'll be spending some time at Booth #19 Heralds of Hope.
Any interest in a "mennonet" small group dinner Thursday?
PM me if interested, or come by #19 at 630 pm Thursday.

All for Jesus.

Assuming my headache is not severe by then, I'm in.
(I've lived with a constant headache since 2018, and the severity varies from one day to the next and throughout the day sometimes.)

Have you been able to see a doctor, neurologist etc about this???

Yes. Dead ends and mystery so far.

[Ernie]

If anyone is still needing lodging, let me know. A friend has 4 empty bedrooms in their AirBnb nearby.

[Ernie]

It was a very successful convention in my opinion.
Food was expensive. Parking was expensive. Parking and travel were nightmarish. But a lot of great topics and lots of good connections.

Attendance today was around 2800.

It was good to meet Dan Freed, Mike, R7ehr's brother, and maybe more of you who read MN but don't post much.

The next REACH is planned for 2027.

[barnhart]

My brother was there.

[JohnH]

It was a very successful convention in my opinion.
Food was expensive. Parking was expensive. Parking and travel were nightmarish. But a lot of great topics and lots of good connections.

Attendance today was around 2800.

It was good to meet Dan Freed, Mike, R7ehr's brother, and maybe more of you who read MN but don't post much.

The next REACH is planned for 2027.

It seems a conference like this is straying far from how Anabaptist gatherings have typically been conducted, and it is becoming much more like a “corporate” conference. Expensive conference facilities, expensive mass produced food. Gone are the days of volunteers preparing simple but healthful meals. Expensive parking instead of youth boys with orange cones directing parking. Staying in pricy hotels instead of each other’s homes.

Such is the way many things turn before the dying gasps of dying institutions.

[mike]

It was a very successful convention in my opinion.
Food was expensive. Parking was expensive. Parking and travel were nightmarish. But a lot of great topics and lots of good connections.

Attendance today was around 2800.

It was good to meet Dan Freed, Mike, R7ehr's brother, and maybe more of you who read MN but don't post much.

The next REACH is planned for 2027.

It was great to meet you again, and of course there wasn't nearly enough time to talk although we worked across from each other all day. It was a blessing to meet Dan Freed and pray with him at our display. I also met Dan Ziegler for the first time in a few years, and many other friends, old and current.

Having it in Pittsburgh rather than in Lancaster County made it less convenient for some PA folks from eastern PA to attend, resulting in a few hundred fewer attendees from the state than past conventions. However that's fine, the Lancaster folks are used to everything happening in their neighborhood, and they can learn a little about the travel other people have to engage in to attend significant events. And attendance from other parts of the country and the world was up significantly, and flying into PIT was very convenient for those who flew in.

The connections made at REACH with other ministries, people who provide or know of services for non-profits, and other things make the convention well worth the $300 or so it costs for a ministry to participate, totally outside of the many obvious benefits of meeting so many potential donors, prospective staff and volunteers, and people who can take advantage of what your ministry has to offer. We have gotten leads from other organizations on good commercial printing options and graphic design shops, for example, that have greatly benefited our ministry and helped our donors' money reach further.

Staying in the city wasn't that big of a deal. The hotel probably cost $20-50 more than one in Lancaster, PA would have, and instead of free parking it was $15. The one meal we bought at the convention was very good, but was probably double what a normal fast food meal might cost. $6 for bottled drinks for example. But you could also take a walk outside the building and get tacos on the street or something more reasonable, or pack a lunch.

I doubt that Pittsburgh ever saw that many conservative Anabaptists in its entire history.

[Ernie]

I also met Dan Ziegler for the first time in a few years, and many other friends, old and current.

How could I have forgotten to mention him? Maybe because he is part of our LifeQuest Community team.

We enjoyed dinner with Dan Z and his wife, thanks to Dan Freed.

[Ernie]

I doubt that Pittsburgh ever saw that many conservative Anabaptists in its entire history.

Some of us were musing that a visitor to downtown Pittsburgh might assume that this was an enclave of Amish and other conservative Anabaptists. The Home Show going on in the same building drew a lot of Amish to the area as well.